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Mike has a trailer ... if he's willing to bring it we can use that to pick up the drywall.

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Yes, I can bring that.

Joe, post the links to photobucket, tinypic, etc. and we'll link them in for you.

Moving slowly along, mostly because of finances, but we're getting there.

I took out the soffit 2 weekends ago. I was happy to drag it to the curb. I also attempted to cut the old rotted studs and replace them, but my cuts with the recip saw weren't great. My measurements on the new wood were good, but they don't quite line up. Tonight, I poured some concrete into the frame, but I didn't think it looked right after one bag, so I quit.

Big work weekend coming up for Labor Day. I'd like to knock out the SLC, new insulation and a new ventilation fan.

Bye bye soffit:


The soon-to-be-covered AC return. Super and I determined that this return is not needed for the house:


See how much taller the room seems without that soffit:


My attempt at re-framing. I had to make a temporary brace on the far left, for now:


I made some temporary braces for the studs while I cut them. I didn't want to risk ruining the new plumbing. Unfortunately, the braces didn't hold:


My first attempt EVER at pouring concrete:

Looks good! But I think it needs to be up higher, level with the floor. we can't fill a dip of more than 1/2 inch or so with self-leveling concrete.

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If it is similar to the Kerdi drain...It fits on the outside of the pipe. I just finished redoing my shower with the kerdi drain set in a mortar pan about a month ago, and I think I remember it needing to fit over 1" of pipe, and being 3-3/4" inches tall in all..I actually had to go down below foundation level to attach to prevent myself from having a shower pan 3-4" higher than I desired.

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If that's the case, then I'll bring my hammer drill with us and we can drill out the area around the drain to set it down low. Gotta see how it goes together, though, when Drumma gets it.

not that it was asked for, but advice for the little cuts of 2x4 you made for braces:
when making shims (or braces in this case) if you cut long ways so it is with the grain on the 2x4 rather than across, the wood will not crack like it did, or at least not as often depending on how thick you cut them.

super - I still have another bag of concrete to go. I didn't know if I did it right so I didn't want to use both bags until I got confirmation. It will be even with the foundation before SLC.

Dwight - I tried to cut the old studs both ways but I'm new to a recip, hence the terrible job.

Bad news on the Prova though. Shipping takes up to 2 weeks. It's on order but I don't think it will be here by this weekend. There's still plenty to do though!

For the floor, if you are trying to get level with the rest of the floor, just keep adding. You can get it up to a couple inches and the top off with mortar, or get it very close and use a leveling compound to finish it off. You don't need SLC, since it appears you already have a form on one side, and the foundation on the other, and you can use that to screed the floor level.

No problem on the ProVa being 2 weeks out. I'm back in Houston now so I'll send out an email about the actual to-do list this weekend... just gotta wake up first. Rolled in at 1am last night.

My bathroom is almost exactly the same as yours in the sense that it was built in 76 and is in really bad shape. I'm seriously thinking about doing the same thing to mine and was wondering if you can give a price breakdown for all the work you are doing. TIA!

TKE - I can do that. Let me see if I can do that this weekend.

Are you looking for what I've done so far or total cost including everything that's not done yet?

[This message has been edited by AgDrumma07 (edited 9/1/2011 5:11p).]

I'm not planning on doing anything too crazy - pretty similar to what you are doing. I'm doing it more for resale value in 2-3 years. So, whatever you think total cost would be would be greatly appreciated.

TKE, Drumma's is going to be a bit different because he's choosing some premium materials and whatnot. Normal "bathroom" tile can be as little as $0.50/sq ft for square or subway tile ... what Drumma's installing would not be my first choice, and is closer to $12-20.00/sq ft. He's making up for that by putting in all the labor, except he spent a bunch of his budget already on plumbing that he might have been able to accomplish himself with some guidance.

I'm going with "premium" tile because I want my bathroom to be as awesome as possible without making it too niche. It's my master bathroom, one of the highlights of a house, plus I've never used the shower since I bought the house 2 years ago! I don't have floor tile picked out yet, but the shower walls will be mostly 3"x6" travertine tiles with a glass stick accent 2/3 of the way up all the way and a marble mosaic floor.

The plumbing was an upgrade to the house and eliminated the old, galvanized pipes. It was an unexpected cost, but adds value to the house. I probably could've done it myself with help, as super mentioned, but my original plan was to contract most of the work and get it done 2 months ago. That didn't quite work out!

100% agreed with you on all accounts about the materials you're using and why, just pointing out that there's different ways to make the job more expensive or cheaper and yours might not be the most representative example.

I could probably do a bathroom your size, with new pipe, fixtures, vanity, toilet, etc. 100% correctly for $2,500 cost -- but wouldn't be contracting anything out and would be using basic ceramic tile. I could also spend $10k on it without contracting out and have it be allsome.

So the bathroom floor is level, then steps down into the shower?

if yes, why are you filling in that gap?

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So the bathroom floor is level, then steps down into the shower?

if yes, why are you filling in that gap?

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No idea if the bathroom floor is level. That's what the self-leveling concrete will fix. The gap was originally filled with bricks, then tiled over to create a shower curb. When we demoed it, we removed everything back to the original foundation level. The gap was about 3 bricks deep, so we're rebuilding that back to the original spot. Sure, it would make the shower floor bigger, but if you were sitting on the toilet, you would literally be crammed against the shower. There needs to be some space there.

The concrete floor is just very slightly out of level; it has two dips in it near the vanity and to the front left of the toilet that would make tiling difficult. That's what the SLC will fix, along with the bottom of the shower pan being as pitted and lumpy as the surface of the moon.

Drumma could've had a larger shower as he said, but you'd end up sitting on the toilet sideways.

Just have to have a smaller ass!

Super, aggiemike and I spent all day yesterday working on each other's houses. Mike had to run several hundred of feet of Romex from his bathroom out to the garage. I spent Monday morning on my stomach up in Mike's garage attic pulling cable through a tiny hole. The weather was actually fantastic, so we didn't sweat to death. After some more exploring in Mike's massive attic and running more Romex, we headed over to my place.

After 3 Home Depot runs, we were able to rebuild the frame underneath the shower plumbing the CORRECT way (not my way) and rewire most of the electrical. My house is mostly aluminum, so the copper Romex is another upgrade.

This week I will be running one additional electrical line for the vent fan, installing the vent fan and can light above the shower, pouring more concrete in the frame and attempting some insulation. Hopefully this weekend we can knock out the venting for the fan.

New electrical for the can light:


New electrical for the vanity:


New boxes/electrical for the switches, fan timer and GFCI outlet:


Correctly installed frame repairs:

Looks good! Keep me posted on the plans for this weekend as I have some availability. I got no problem being the official HD-runner. I'll get some pics up on my thread once I get the electrical done.

Brent, you totally need to post that picture of me covered in roof sheet ...

Mucho progress made yesterday! All of the electrical is done. I have a can light above the shower, as well as a sweet vent fan (with proper ventilation to the roof).

We installed a 4" can light above the shower that mike gave me. This is the vent fan we installed (I think mike got the same one). I opted for the model with no light:

http://www.homedepot.com/Bath-Bath-Fans-Bath-Ventilation-Fans/NuTone/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbv84Z12mZ12l2/R-100066718/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

I had to cut down some of the 1x4s in the ceiling to make room for the 4" rigid ducting we installed. Fortunately, we only needed one elbow to get it up to the roof. This is the gooseneck we installed on the roof:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100396945/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

We called it quits after climbing in my attic and on my roof for a few hours, but this is tremendous progress and HUGE thanks go to mike and super for helping out. My Prova shower system should arrive tomorrow so next weekend is drywall!

New switches, vent fan timer and GFCI outlet:


Can light above the shower:


Vent fan (coincidentally, almost directly over the crapper):


Hole in the roof for the gooseneck vent cover:


4" rigid tubing tubing up to the roof:


And finally, super covered in all of the sheet from drilling through my roof:

My Prova system is here! Got here yesterday actually.

Just need to find the right insulation...

Good stuff, mine worked great. Let me know if you have any questions about the Prova.

Horizon - email?

smurasky@yahoo.com

we used to work together remember?

I think so...

Sorry, I can never remember who's who on here. Hope the new job is working out.

The car was a little weighed down after the tile purchase, unlike my wallet.



$1000 later, I have all of this. Fortunately, Floor & Decor still had everything in stock. Now I have 30 days to put it in so I can take back the extras.

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Now I have 30 days to put it in so I can take back the extras.

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The clock is ticking...and it's still raining today! Just take back about 20% on the 29th day and return the following day and repurchase the 20% to reset the clock!

Or...you could finish the project in 30 days!

With the way our luck is going, we're gonna be waaaaay past 30 days...

I'm prolly gonna be in CS next weekend. Has your roommate shown up yet, and does he know how to drywall? You might have to get hooked up with Mike and go get the drywall on your own.

super - my roommate's job got bumped up big time, so he was only here for 2 days. I have a drywall guy that I can call that would probably do it for cheap. Still need to find the insulation though...

I'll stop off at our Blowe's at some point this week and see if they have it. If so, I'll let you know and you can come grab it.

It shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred bucks with materials... if it moves the project forward and you're not hurting too bad in the wallet after buying all that tile, I say do it.

I probably will, just to get it done. If we can get tile done in 30 days or less, I can probably return at least $100 worth of tile to offset the labor for drywall. I bought about 20% extra tile since we're going to DIY it.

20% extra is a good amount to buy no matter what... Ask me how I know on my kitchen.

I look forward to your tiling job on my shower.

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